Internet entrepreneur
Ajaz Ahmed founded Freeserve, once the UK’s largest internet service provider (ISP). Having bought a PC from PC World in Leeds, he discovered that no one there could tell him how to get onto the internet. So in 1998 he persuaded Dixons to launch Freeserve. After becoming the UK’s largest ISP in just three months it quickly went public at £1.5bn and entering the FT100 soon after with a market cap at its height of £9bn, Freeserve was later sold by Dixons to Wanadoo (a France Telecom company) for £1.6bn in 2001. Ajaz was Business Development Director there until April 2001, when he left to pursue other business interests. He now holds several boardpositions and is actively involved with a number of investments, his latest venture is a new online legal service Legal365.com. He also sits on the advisory board of the Business School at the University of Huddersfield and is a board member of regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward.
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